Why does reef crystals only have 320 Ca?

[Billybeau1]

Originally posted by Boomer
[B]Why on earth do the still test at FOT levels of 32 ppt, especially since RC is a reef salt. There are no reefs at that level.

Good question.

And yes, I saw that typo too. Must be the Public Relations person and not the Chemist.

[SPStoner]

Originally posted by Boomer
I have some contacts at the company, being in the industry.

I use to. Tom Frakes is one of my best friends but is no longer with them so I'm up a creek now without a paddle

LOL. Small world! Tom is a good friend of mine as well. He got me my first job in the industry when he used to frequent the pet store I worked for at the time. I live about 15 minutes from him.

He taught me quite a bit over the years. Fortunately, one of the most important lessons was for me to stop at just 2 kids I don't have near his patience, and I like my hair!!

[Boomer]

I have no kids and still no hair

Last year Julian and I had to beat him to death to come MACNA We even got him a free room with Julian. He was also at MACNA this year with Omega as rep/adviser. Tom is my favorite person in this hobby. I almost took his job when he first left AS years ago. We often talk for hrs when we get together. We do not know when to shut-up

I don't have near his patience,

That is an understatement and we both know why

[Mike O'Brien]

LOL. My hair started going as soon as my twins were born.

[USC-fan]

SG @ 1.026
temp @ 77.5
3.5 gals mixed for 18 hours with a 2500gph pump and 10watt heater in a 5 gal bucket.



alk 13
CA++ 360
Mg 1260

[bdare]

Originally posted by USC-fan
SG @ 1.026
temp @ 77.5
3.5 gals mixed for 18 hours with a 2500gph pump and 10watt heater in a 5 gal bucket.



alk 13
CA++ 360
Mg 1260

How did you keep 5 gallons of water 77 degrees with a 2500 gph pump?

I'm assuming you let it cool before you tested?

[USC-fan]

i use a modded mj that maybe uses 25watts....

I also have a small heater that keeps the water heated.

[Billybeau1]

Well, my results are in the books.

My new bucket of RC (just received) measured a whopping 345 ppm calcium @ 35 ppt. Mixed 3 different batches and tested 3 different times with 2 different test kits.

I then tested a sample of the bag of RC I had left from last month and it tested 415ppm as I expected.

It gets worse.

Magnesium in past RC's has run around 1260-1290 for me @ 35 ppt.

This new bucket I received tested 970 ppm magnesium. Again tested 3 times as I couldn't believe my eyes.

I am extremely disappointed with these results as RC has been rock solid for years.

Marineland has some issues that need to be addressed. Heck I get those numbers with good old IO.

I'm sorry for doubting all you original posters but I just couldn't believe my reliable RC could give those numbers.

[StrategicReef]

Thanks for your test and believing us..

I think they need to figure out what are bad batches and recall this crap. I have been dosing Magnesium like crazy, 100ppm a day to get to a reasonable 1300

[Mr. Ugly]

Originally posted by Billybeau1
I'm sorry for doubting all you original posters but I just couldn't believe my reliable RC could give those numbers.

Glad to get the confirmation. I'd trusted my RC salt so much that I didn't check when I did water changes with the new salt. Bad move on my part

How does the alk look in that batch? I'm getting paranoid about carbonate/borate proportions

[Billybeau1]

Alk is same as always 12-13 dkh.

In fact my new bucket tested 12.5 and my bag tested 12.0

[Mr. Ugly]

Ok, thanks.

I think there could be something else going on with the RC salt. A lot of folks seemed to have been having recession problems with their SPS this year. Established pieces dieing off starting from the base. People kept looking for aefw but never found any.

I did a water change yesterday and had some frags STN on me.

That's been happening to me at seemingly random times this past year. Now I'm thinking that it has been shortly after the water changes. I never put the two together... the mindset being that water changes = good.

[Billybeau1]

Maybe its time to change salt mixes for a little while. At least until this gets straightened out.

[MO Will]

I have been using RC as well

What alternative salt mixes should I consider

I thought RC was the "use it and forget it" salt mix

[USC-fan]

Originally posted by Mr. Ugly
Glad to get the confirmation. I'd trusted my RC salt so much that I didn't check when I did water changes with the new salt. Bad move on my part

i did the same thing.....

What are some other good cheap reef salts? I really don't want to dose anything for freshly made SW, this was the main reason i used RC.

[Boomer]

How did you keep 5 gallons of water 77 degrees with a 2500 gph pump?



I want to know how the heck he kept it in the bucket and stopped self evaporation

Billy

Again tested 3 times as I couldn't believe my eyes

That is because this time you put on your glasses. Last time they were not on and the 3 looked like 4 You are getting old. I had to change glasses 3 times just to make sure your post said 345

Ok, so want are people getting with TM ???

[Mike O'Brien]

I for one have no problems with my corals. In fact, my sps are growing and looking just fine. I never allowed the calcium in my tank to drop to the levels of the salt. If I did that, dying sps wouldn't surprise me at all.
Hopefully they can make sure the IO goes into the IO buckets and the RC goes in the RC buckets in th future. I'm sticking with them.

[Billybeau1]

Originally posted by Boomer
Ok, so want are people getting with TM ???

Funny you asked that. When I bought my bucket of RC, I got small boxes of TM and TM Reef Pro as I haven't tested them yet.

Will do that today. .

Mike, I have always said " If your tank looks good, it is good. " The eyes are the best tool for the aquarist. Some guys like Randy never test at all and his tank thrives.

Sometimes we pay too much attention to numbers.

[Mike O'Brien]

I agree. LOL

Your Magnesium test got me thinking though. I jut tested my tank, and I got 1330 or so ppm with Salifert. Kind of makes me not want to waste a test on the new salt water, but I think I will. IMO having 900 ppm Mg is a much bigger problem than the low Ca.

[Billybeau1]

Originally posted by USC-fan
i did the same thing.....

What are some other good cheap reef salts? I really don't want to dose anything for freshly made SW, this was the main reason i used RC.

Seachems Reef Salt has pretty good numbers and is about 25 cents per gallon like RC. Kent has good numbers as well at 22.5 cents per gallon but needs some magnesium supplementation.

I have 3 more salts to test of with I'm doing 2 today. I will post a list of my findings of 10 salt mixes tonight. I'm sure it will be controversial but I figure its a start for those who are looking for alternatives.

[Billybeau1]

Originally posted by Mike O'Brien
I agree. LOL

Your Magnesium test got me thinking though. I jut tested my tank, and I got 1330 or so ppm with Salifert. Kind of makes me not want to waste a test on the new salt water, but I think I will. IMO having 900 ppm Mg is a much bigger problem than the low Ca.

Let me know what you get as I couldn't believe my eyes.

[Mike O'Brien]

I got 1270 ppm. But I also noticed that my kit is now expired, so I can't say much about those numbers. But I'd know if my reef was low in Mg, and it's not, so I would tend to agree with the kit. I'm going to pick up an Elos MG kit and test again to verify.

[Billybeau1]

I believe 1260 - 1290 as that is the norm for RC @ 35 ppt. I think your kit is fine.

I'm going to retest the mag in my new bucket to make sure I didn't screw up.

[sjm817]

Thanks Billy. Now that we are all in agreement that RC is not what it was, what to do next? My concern is, what else has changed that we are not testing for? If it is just low in ca, that is OK and easy to fix, but might as well use IO. I liked the fact the RC was a good salt at a very good price. I'm going to test the mg in my tank and see how it looks. Unfortunately, the LFS in my area are expensive for a bucket of salt. The RC from DR F&S is a good deal. Petsmart.com has Coralife for $31.69 and free shipping on orders over $50.


I'm looking forward to the results of the different salt brands.

Edit:
Tested mg in my tank. 1320, so no problem there

[SPStoner]

I am not willing to switch brands over what appears to be an isolated incident. I've been using RC for close to 13 years and don't plan to switch now. About the only other salt on the market that is close to RC in consistency over the years has been Tropic Marin, and IME it is much more expensive. As for Coralife, I wouldn't use that stuff to melt snow.